PLEASE NOTE:
THIS LEGISLATION BELOW IS ONLY PROPOSED AND HAS NOT BEEN PASSED BY CONGRESS. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR UNITED STATES SENATORS, RICHARD BURR AND THOM TILLIS TO VOICE YOUR SUPPORT FOR THIS LEGISLATION. PLEASE ALSO CONTACT YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNITED HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
UNITED STATES SENATORS (2 for each state):
https://www.burr.senate.gov/contact/email
https://www.tillis.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-me
FIND YOUR UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE (one for each district):
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020
On December 9, 2020 United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) introduced the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020, bicameral legislation to simplify and modernize the consumer bankruptcy system to make it easier for individuals and families forced into bankruptcy to get back on their feet.
The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act will make significant changes to the Bankruptcy Code. Among other amendments it will:
• Replace chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcies with a single system.
• Allow for discharge of student loans.
• Allow discharge before completion of payment plans.
• Choice of state or new federal exemptions which includes new homestead floor.
• Assist renters with back rent avoid eviction.
• Allow discharge of local government fines.
• Exempt sources of income and assets traceable to alimony, child support income, the child tax credit, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
• Crack down on predatory practices and hold corporate wrongdoers accountable by banning collection of debts that violate consumer protection laws, allowing lawsuits against creditors that attempt to collect previously discharged debt, and preventing creditors from pursuing consumers in mandatory arbitration.
• Allow cram-down and extended re-amortization of home mortgages
• Create a minimum federal homestead exemption
The members of NACBA’s Legislative Committee will discuss the major changes proposed in the Act and how they will affect consumers and attorneys. NACBA’s Legislative Committee has spent hundreds of hours reviewing the proposed changes in the Act and are ready to share their analysis with NACBA Members.